The Associated Press
FITCHBURG, Mass. — The father of an 8-year-old Massachusetts boy who crawled from the wreckage of a crashed car and ran for help is facing drunken driving and other charges.
The Telegram & Gazette reports that 30-year-old Eugenio Garcia of Fitchburg was released on personal recognizance after pleading not guilty Monday to charges stemming from the crash early Thursday.
Garcia’s son, Joshua, was hailed as a hero for getting help after their car crashed through a guardrail and flipped onto its roof, landing on a sandbar in the Nashua River.
With his father unconscious, the boy wriggled from the wreckage, crossed the rushing water, scrambled up an embankment and ran barefoot nearly a mile home. His mother called 911.
Police say the father had been drinking in the hours before the crash.